Sunil Khilnani is a professor of politics and history at Ashoka University,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Previously, he was a professor of politics and the Director of the

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

India Institute. He is a scholar of

n history and politics best known as the author of '' The Idea of India'' (1997). He was the presenter of a

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

series entitled ''Incarnations: India in 50 Lives'', which was later published as a book in 2016. He was a 2010 Berlin Prize Fellow, and he was also a recipient of the Indian government's 2005 Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award.

Career

Khilnani was born in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

and grew up on the continents of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. He earned a first at

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge, colloquially "Tit Hall" ) is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1350, it is th ...

, and a PhD at

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

. He was Starr Foundation Professor at the

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

's School of Advanced International Studies, and Director of South Asia Studies. He has also served on the Humanities and Social Sciences juries for the Infosys Prize from 2013 to 2015. As of 2023, Khilnani is a Professor of Political Science and History at Ashoka University. He is also the Dean of AshokaX, an initiative by the university that allows those not affiliated with Ashoka to take courses specially tailored for them.

Personal life

He is married to the writer Katherine Boo.

Works

Books

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Chapters in books

References

External links

Esmt.orgThenation.comForeignaffairs.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khilnani, Sunil Living people Academics from New Delhi Academics of King's College London Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge Indian foreign policy writers Johns Hopkins University faculty Scholars of Indian foreign policy Year of birth missing (living people) Recipients of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman